2000 Excavation
In almost a repeat of the 1999 discoveries, archaeologists
working on the settlement at Stonehall in Firth
in 2000 uncovered another series of enigmatic structures unlike
anything so far encountered in the islands.
Dr Colin Richards, along with a group of archaeology
students from Glasgow University, returned to the county in August
2000 where the excavations at Stonehall and Crossiecrown, near Quanterness,
St Ola, continued for the
third and last year.
In August 1999, the
Stonehall excavation had revealed a strange late Neolithic structure
which had the experts perplexed. A year later and the site managed
to do it again, with the discovery of yet another structure of a
previously unknown design.
Beneath a thick layer of ash, lay a beautifully
paved floor that Dr Richards felt was on a par with the later Neolithic
settlement at Barnhouse in Stenness.
Describing the discovery, Dr Richards said: "What
we've got is an oval shaped structure with a gorgeously paved floor.
We've had two polished stone axes and everything seems to be right
for an early Neolithic date. It's just that it's a style of structure
we haven't seen before."
Conscious that this was a statement often used
in relation to the early Neolithic, Dr Richards explained that at
present they only had one other structure of the same period so
new discoveries would obviously be unfamiliar.
"All we've got from this period is one building
- the Knap of Howar - but what we have
here is quite different." he said. "I've really not seen
anything like it before. This thing had two entrances, for example.
We've got an entrance that was open, then beside it was this second
entrance which had been deliberately blocked up which is unusual.
"It's not conforming to anything which we
would expect for the period. What this shows is that the early Neolithic
is far more complicated than we once thought."
He added: "The big realisation here is that
when we started looking into this we were expecting that we'd find
a certain type of house. We now know this is not quite the case."
This lack of conformance was not something Dr
Richards was unduly worried about. On the contrary, he felt that
these hitherto undiscovered elements were hat continue to make the
period interesting.
From the dig, the layout and design of the egg-shaped
building were clear but one element was particularly perplexing
- the structure seemed to have no hearth. Although there was still
an area of floor that had to be uncovered, the lack of a central
hearth, an extremely important element of Neolithic architecture,
may indicate that the structure was something more than a mere dwelling.
Dr Richards explained: "One thing is for
sure, if there's not a hearth then it was not built for living in.
Even in the Neolithic when it was a bit warmer you would still need
a fire in the house."
So if the building was not a house, what was it?
Dr Richards had an idea that, given the close proximity
of the Cuween Hill cairn,
the structure may have had a ritual, perhaps funerary, purpose.
Could it have been, he wondered, involved in the mortuary rituals practised
by the builders of the tomb?
Further up the hillside, in the second trench,
the archaeologists uncovered the remains of three of the oldest
structures found so far in Orkney. Dating from around 3,800BC, on
visiting the site, the most obvious of the three buildings was the
well-preserved lower course of the most recent.
This house, although older than Skara
Brae, sat alongside the remains of two even earlier structures.
Overlooking the valley, the trench had originally revealed a second
area of paving that Dr Richards explained had seemed to fall short
of the visible remains of the second house.
Further investigation revealed that this paved
area was part of a second phase of development, the flagstones being
placed over the remains of the earliest structure and up to the
walls of a second house. Little remains of the second structure,
save the hearth and some stone uprights.
The remains of the oldest structure are faint
but one thing that is certain is that it too had no hearth. Again,
the lack of a hearth, among other factors, has prompted Dr Richards
to question the structure's original role.
Was is a dwelling or, as he suggested, related
to funerary ritual and the handling of the dead - perhaps an early
prototype for a tomb?
Its strange and less than practical positioning
on the sloping side of a knoll had further convinced him that the
building and area were somehow considered special.
Whatever its purpose, over time the original building
was dismantled, the stone from its walls used to construct the second
dwelling, and its foundations paved over. The second structure followed
suit and in turn was used to create the third and best preserved
of the three. This building has a more familiar design similar to
those already found in the county.
With the collapsed stone furniture, hearth and
walls still visible, this was perhaps the most visually impressive
part of this year's excavation.
2000 was the last year of a three year series
of excavations at Stonehall. The excavation certainly increased
our understanding of Orkney's early human history and Dr Richards'
work will almost certainly force a rethink on certain firmly held
assumptions about the period.
The idea, for example, that settlement in the
early Neolithic consisted of single, isolated houses is contrary
to the evidence from Stonehall where the pattern is one of loosely
clustered houses, much like the Orcadian tunships of later history.
One of the end results of many quests for knowledge
is that we are sometimes left with more questions than answers.
In many respects Stonehall typified this.
But what this excavation proved without a shadow
of a doubt is that in Orkney, there's no such thing as a routine
dig. |